Remember all the hype as National Cruise Week approached? We had stories from the Passenger Shipping Association about favourite ports. celebs you'd most like to cruise with, the great deals to be had from agents during the seven days and much more.
That was September. And what have we heard since about it? Zilch. That's despite a request to the PSA for some feedback from the event. "There isn't anything to report," is a rough translation of what I was eventually told.
I was a speaker at a meeting of Leading Cruise Agents earlier this month, talking about the benefits of PR, and asked how many of the attendees had done anything to promote themselves during National Cruise Week. Three hands went up.
Compare that to the World's Largest Cruise Night in the US in October. Travel Agent Central reports that when the books closed, the industry stood at about $45 million in sales from the massive marketing promotion, translating into agent commissions of approximately $6 million.
"Nearly 50,000 consumers attended WLCN cruise events held by a record 1,309 agencies this year. That's big - and agents have every reason to believe their cruise sales will get even bigger. It's the most reliable segment of the travel industry right now, and the cruise lines continue to enhance their offerings to attract travelers. Even your most reluctant clients may find themselves swayed by what's out there these days."
How can we be getting it so wrong?
Jane Archer
Comments (2)
National Cruise Week is an ACE initiative designed to raise consumer and media interest in taking a cruise holiday and, as a consequence, increase the number of people visiting and doing business with their local ACE accredited travel agent.
During the week 415 agent events took place across the country and 34 different cruise companies provided special promotions and offers ranging from onboard credit and upgrades to free flights. Alongside these events we ran a PR campaign which I believe was highly successful, reaching over 20 million people through national and regional print articles, radio broadcasts and online features. We also secured coverage in titles and sections where we had not appeared before including sport, lifestyle and business.
A record 1.55 million Brits will have taken a cruise holiday in 2009, but that’s just 3.3% of the total UK foreign holiday market. It is the objective of ACE and the Passenger Shipping Association to continually raise the profile of cruising as a holiday choice and we believe there are many opportunities for travel agents to grow their business in the cruise sector, supported by ACE. It is disappointing that some agents with whom you spoke did not take advantage of National Cruise Week as an opportunity to build business (perhaps they were not members of ACE?).
The very successful ‘World’s Largest Cruise Night’ in the US is designed for travel agents to make sure their customers know about special offers and for those customers to respond. It has been running for a number of years and when you consider 13.5 million US citizens annually take a cruise, it’s not surprising the sales numbers are big. Here in the UK we are still raising the profile of cruise holidays. We appreciate there is room for improvement within National Cruise Week but we believe in its second year it’s done an admirable job in raising cruise as a holiday choice in the public’s mind. I believe we are getting it right, but agree there’s still work to be done and with the support of our ACE accredited travel agencies and cruise line members, I’m sure continued success will follow.
Bill Gibbons
Director
Passenger Shipping Association
www.the-psa.co.uk
http://www.cruiseexperts.org/
Posted by Passenger Shipping Association | November 19, 2009 6:15 PM
Posted on November 19, 2009 18:15
Cruise Week for us was a great success - we held an event with Regent in Brighton and have already seen bookings come in. For those agents that did not get behind it they are the ones missing out. To compare the UK Cruise Week with the US version is ridiculous, as Bill says it has been going for years and I am sure they have a much larger marketing budget to promote it. The ACE cruise week will gain momentum and I for one will continue to support it.
Posted by Scott Anderson | November 24, 2009 3:13 PM
Posted on November 24, 2009 15:13